Many refugee children in Egypt lack education services

African Monitor’s monitor in Egypt reported that many refugees’ children in Egypt, including Eritrean refugee children suffer from lack of educational opportunities. Two UNHCR partner non-governmental organizations in Egypt named St. Andrew’s and CRS; offer limited educational services to very few refugee children in Egypt.

However, as the number of refugees coming to Egypt increased in the last three years, these organizations were unable to render large numbers of refugees, many of whom were unaccompanied minors education opportunities, because of their limited capacities.

Due to the lack of immigration law in Egypt, children refugees do not have the right to education in public institutions in Egypt, consequently, a large number of them have no access to education since they arrived in Egypt after war and harsh conditions in their countries of origin forced them to drop out of school and resort to unknown destiny.

On other hand, medical services, which have been received by refugees in Egypt, have deteriorated significantly recently due to the cessation of the support provided by a UNHCR partner organization in Egypt (Caritas) for the provision of medical services to refugees in Egypt.

Refugees in Egypt were told to go to hospitals and public clinics in Egypt and pay for their treatment, despite their inability to do so. Many refugees suffering from diseases such as diabetes, blood pressure, kidneys and other chronic and intractable diseases suffer from the interruption of medical services.

As UNHCR’s procedures and services slow down with increase of refugees in Egypt, it is not yet clear how long this hardship and challenges facing refugees in Egypt will continue and how will be solved.